Wednesday, October 29, 2014

For Your Dining and Dancing Pleasure: Presenting the Billy Batts Ensemble


I've been getting into playing the upright more here at the club lately.  I'm so guilty of not appreciating what I have until I don't have it anymore.  That was the case when this beloved bass broke in two, possibly never to be played again.  I have nursed it back into a functional and playable item and I love the ol' girl more than I ever had.  She sounds decent and I enjoy trying to get a full tone.  The thumb position is what it is.  I try to get up there but need to work on it much more.  The guys seem to welcome it so I better keep on advancing and not give them a reason to to change their minds.  I always bring a backup  just in case, from now on.

We had a rather forward female club member ask us to play something upbeat.  I think we settled on Pride and Joy.  She danced and had the best time I've seen somebody have in along while, certainly at this establishment.  Bless her heart, she really invigorated us on what may have been a lame evening.  I think it even gave us cause to go for some Radiohead, even if it was only Karma Police (I hear you saying "ONLY Karma Police?")  Every upright player should know Karma Police!  I will review that little pop gem before next time; the coda threw us all for a loop.

I believe it was Pride weekend, so traffic on the way there was not fun in the least.

Here are a couple of stills from the motion gif above, included as I was able to tweak them without that pesky contrast-hating table lamp in the background.  I like the one where Walt has to contend with the other lady.  He was in the hot seat for a hot minute!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Name of This City is Thomson



A disturbing image to say the least.  I don't know how it was made, but Google had something to do with it.  I do know that I took the selfies (it takes a big man to admit these days that he took a selfie) and that the "image" is a GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, which is a format that supports animation.  I like that I'm moving up (or is it down) the neck and that I smile in the beginning of the phrase.  I don't like that I look old.

This performance was for a wedding reception in Thomson, GA.  The city used to have the name Slashes and was a depot on the Georgia Railroad.  It took its current name in 1853 from John Edgar Thomson, a railroad official.  From Atlanta, it is virtually a straight shot east bound and down on I-20.  Virtually.  Just don't call it Thompson.  Wikipedia works wonders in situations like these.





We met early at the space, aka Sweetwater Junction World Headquarters, and rode together in style.  We encountered some brutal traffic snarls and found ourselves pressed for time.  How pressed?  Micky D's for a late lunch.  When we rolled up, we found the stage was set outside of a house.  No lights and no cover.  Not the first time I've encountered this as of late.  What was interesting was that the dance floor was raised, almost as high as the stage, again with no lights.  It was high enough that folks could really injure themselves if they fell off the dance floor.  That never happened, but we all thought it might.  The ground around the stage and behind was swampy and mucky.  Good stuff.





We were all stressed a bit with the dances, mainly the first dance of You've Got A Friend by James Taylor.  A quick run-through settled our qualms.  Nobody could explain why we moved it up a whole step to B.  That's ok.  I'll play it in any key.  Except B, apparently.






My EUB got messed up with the strap assembly.  It got stripped.  Still haven't figured out the problem.  My 6-string also messed up.  I changed out the 2 9-volt batteries.  In the low light, I thought I had seen one of the wires disconnected.  Of course, it didn't make a sound.  Turns out that one of the batteries I installed was a no-name brand that was dead.  No sound if the one battery is dead.  Double trouble for the bass man.  I had a Fender as well, so I was able to continue after the brief mishap.  Eventually, every piece of gear messes up...

This section is creepy.  I sure got carried away.  I should have been carried away!







Now that we got that out of the way, these pictures tell the rest of the story...






SWQ at the GWCC for ASIS: Three Songs For The Price of Four


Had a cool corporate Monday morning gig with drummer-in-demand Steven Walker.  Steven is a world-class recording artist as well as a top-notch performer and instructor.  Check him out here.  His web site is a great resource on how to build a musician's page.  He had subbed in The Billy Batts Ensemble and contacted us when this opportunity came along.  He also enlisted his House Live partner Anton Harris for some saxophone flavor.  I call us the Steven Walker Quintet.  We met at his home studio to fabricate and track some tunes to play during video rolls at a convention.  We planned on 4 tunes.  Using Brian's new HD camera, we recorded the tracks and submitted them to the client for approval.  That went well.  The big catch on this gig was an early Sunday load-in and rehearsal at the Georgia World Congress Center, the day after SWJ was to play in Virginia.  Ouch!  The load-in time of 9 a.m. was non-negotiable, so Brian and I had no choice but to drive back right after the SWJ gig.  The good news was the we had help with the driving.  We were tired and a bit annoyed, but all in all it wasn't so bad.



The gig itself went well, although our program was cut by one song, leaving us to play 3 of the 4 tunes.  Anton only played on 1 song!  There was a marching band in the program as well, and Steven performed with them.  Most of the pics I took were of us waiting around behind the screen.  It was a fair amount of waiting.  We had to use wireless units for guitar, bass and sax, so that we could wander the vast stage during our performance.  It's interesting how these plans are made by somebody that we never really even met.  They decided to stagger the instrumentation and have us perform visually.  All for some corporate video rolls.  Well, it went well.  We enjoyed the perks of breakfast and the green rooms backstage.  The pay was good, but I'd say we earned it with the rehearsal, recording, Sunday load-in, and then very early Monday call time.  It turned out to be a great experience and a lot of fun.  I don't get to perform music before noon very often, that is certainly the truth.  Thank you Steven!








My latest gimmick is this "motion gif" enhancement, made through the Google+ Auto Awesome App.  Apparently, it can only be done on the phone and then downloaded.  Still figuring it out.  If I take a bunch of pics with the same background, it senses that and makes one of these automatically.  I was just trying to get a good one of Walt on the big screen, so I took a few all at once.  Walt makes this all look easy!


Sunday, October 26, 2014

Epic Jams in Roankoke VA


The jams actually took place in Elliston, Virginia.  Elliston is situated between Roanoke and Blacksburg, off of Hwy 81 via 460/11 for those of you in the know.  It's funny how I never had a car in all of my years going to Virginia Tech, so I never developed a great sense of the lay of the land.  Of course, I didn't have Google Maps or a GPS at my disposal either.  So Elliston boasts a marvelous party venue with it's Firefly Hill Vineyards.

Before I embarked on my extended journey northbound, I had a gig with Martay, or is it Crazy Marty?  It was Crazy Marty and we played at Emeritus at Big Creek, a retirement home in Roswell.  The gig was quick and painless.  On drums was Mr. Gwen Hughes, aka a legend in his own right, Mike Hinton.  He performed supremely well.  No easy feat, as far as Crazy Marty's cues are concerned!  Ha ha, just checking to see if you're reading this, Martay!  We rocked the crowd and the staff in the back courtyard area.  Even Brick House.  No food or drinks served, fwiw.

A selfie with Reece Harris, my bestie and favorite fusion drummer who was a part of my greatest original project from back in the day.  I wish this beautiful man a lifetime of blessed matrimony
After I left, I swung by Farm Burger off 285 and then scampered dwon to where Reece Harris was holding court at his Wedding reception.  Steve Mays and Doug Morton were jamming with the MC and it was a who's who of musician types.  Saw Greg Hester, Jason Matthias, Charles Mishalany, Sheila & Felix, and a host of others.  Before I knew it, my beer was drained and I had to am-scray down the 14th street to meet up with the boys of Sweetwater Junction.  We hit the road to make a gig in Roanoke (yes, it was actually Elliston, a suburb of Roanoke, if you will), Virginia gig without driving the distance the day of the hit.  Made sense to me.  As things transgressed, Brian went with his girl and the other four, including me, followed in the rented van with trailer.  The night was spent in a modest motel in Spartanburg, SC, naturally followed by a deluxe breakfast at Waffle House.  The ride was decent and the weather was nice.  The venue was a tent on the rear of the property, which was a vineyard.  The skies were blue and warm, but not muggy.  We played some good music, including some Phish tunes.  I'd give us a 10.



Ceremony walk-on music

The drummer relaxes for a change in the green room

Brian enjoys a private moment before we change into suits



Chris dials up a set of lyrics


Our ace photographer checks his proofs



Chris Garner delivers the goods




These 2 pics from Daniel's camera make me question the quality of my camera work.  Dude captured some mice colors and vivid detail, including a rare Ashbory groove moment.  Thank you Daniel!  I learn more from you than I let on.